Surgery
UK's first robotic operation for a heart rhythm disorder
By Ashwin, UK Correspondent
Nov 8, 2004, 22:38

A pioneering operation for patients suffering from a similar heart condition to the Prime Minister�s has recently been performed at St Mary�s Hospital in Paddington.

For the first time in the UK robotic technology was used to treat a patient suffering from Atrial Fibrillation � the world�s most common persistent heart rhythm disorder that affects over half a million patients in the UK.

Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon Mr Roberto Casula, who performed the UK�s first operation six weeks ago, said a small percentage of patients with Atrial Fibrillation will not respond to a Catheter Ablation and subsequently face a life of medication. With the help of St Mary�s Da Vinci system, already famed as the first such robot in the UK, the new treatment, - Robotic-enhanced Atrial Fibrillation Ablation (RAFA) -offers this group of patients hope of a normal life.

Mr Casula said;

�This procedure offers patients who would otherwise face a life of blood thinning medication, a chance of a normal life. Since I performed the first closed-chest by-pass operations in the UK in 2002 I have been applying the same technology to other patients suffering from different heart conditions such as mitral valve disease (hole in the heart).

�With the help of robotic remote technology I was able to perform this operation via small incisions in the right-hand side of chest instead of cracking through the patient�s rib cage and without using a cardiopulmonary by pass machine.�

The operation takes no more than three hours and patients require only three nights in hospital compared to around 10 for traditional heart surgery.

The first patient to receive the treatment was 48-year-old Bromley resident Derek Rutter. A former geophysicist, Mr Rutter has spent the last five years debilitated by his heart condition and was grateful to be chosen for the procedure.

�Roberto and his team have thrown me a lifeline. His conduct and the way that he kept me informed during every part of my treatment was superb,� he said.



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